Bihar flood toll mounts to 514

Patna: With 32 more deaths, the toll in flood-hit Bihar rose to 514 while 1.71 crore people in 19 districts remained affected by the deluge.

With water receding in some places, many people have returned to their homes and the number of relief camps has dropped to 115 from 222, a Disaster Management department release said.

The death toll was 95 in Araria district followed by Sitamarhi (47), Purnea (44), West Champaran (42), Katihar (40), Darbhanga (37), East Champaran (32), Madhepura (29), Madhubani (28), Kishanganj (24), Muzaffarpur (21), Gopalganj (20), Supaul (16), Saran (13), Khagaria (10), Saharsa (8), Sheohar(6), Samastipur (2), the release said.

A total of 1.89 lakh people had food in 794 community kitchens operational in marooned areas of Bihar, it said.

National and State Disaster Response Force teams, besides army personnel, have been involved in rescue and relief operations.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar held a review meeting on the flood siatution through video conferencing with senior officials of the marooned districts and appreciated their hard work.

Kumar instructed them to transfer monetary relief to the bank accounts of the affected people, the release said.

However, the amount of money to be given is not clear.

Officials were also asked to help people with no bank account.

Meanwhile, IAS Officers' Wives Association and IPS Officers' Wives Association donated Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 1 lakh for flood relief.

East Central Railway released a list of 18 trains which were to ply tomorrow but have been cancelled in view of flood water submerging tracks in some sections under Samastipur division.

The cancelled trains included Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express and Guwahati-Lokmanya Tilak Terminal Express.